Shifting Waters
by Blithesome
Summary: Kelpies - Shape shifting water demons. Harry grows up in the wilderness, raised by a motherly kelpie. From early on he learns that survival means adaptation. But life on dry land is not easy for someone who depends so much on water. How will Harry's struggles with spell casting and his weakness for bridles affect his destiny as the Boy Who Lived? Creature!Fic.
1. Chapter 1 - Accidental magic

**Disclaimer:** J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter. Not sure if such obvious disclaimers are necessary, but it's a nice tradition.

**Rating:** T for future violence and possible bad language

**Author's Note:** Be warned! I make no promises about updating regularly or even completing this fic. I just write when inspiration strikes. Also, this is the first fanfiction - or in fact, first long story in general - that I have ever written. I'm also not a native English speaker so British English goes way over my head. So yeah, I'll just put one of those signs here that says 'I have no idea what I'm doing', lol.

The plot bunny for this story was born when I contemplated what it would be like to have multiple animagus forms, and realized that there is a semi-legitimate way of accomplishing that. Having read and enjoyed a bunch of magical animagus fics, I noticed that nobody had written about kelpies yet. Naturally I had to do something about it.

* * *

Chapter 1

Accidental magic

The deck was probably Harry's favorite part of the ship. The open sea was nice to look at, and the early June wind was uplifting and pleasant. Harry was enjoying this trip very much indeed. He could still hardly believe his luck for being allowed to come in the first place. It had been a tight compromise even after all the neighbors had let the Dursleys know that they would be unable to babysit him (poor Mrs Figg was still recovering from her broken hip). In the end, though, taking Harry along and letting him eat the free meals that came with the cruise tickets had been a better option than actually hiring a nanny for him.

The young boy had promised to stay out of the way and remain as unnoticeable as possible, but he didn't really mind that much.

It was nice and peaceful here, he didn't have to do any chores, and he really liked exploring the big ship and watching all the different people. Today he had found a seagull on the deck, which meant that they must be getting closer to England again.

The seagull had surprised Harry by walking closer to him and squawking hesitantly. It was only a few paces away from him now, and Harry couldn't help but smile. It was so tame!

'Here, birdie birdie! What are you doing? Are you hungry?'

'Squawk!'

'Sorry, but I don't have any food for you. Everything's inside the ship, and I couldn't bring any.' Harry had actually tried to pocket some sweet rolls that were served at the lavish buffet, so that he would have a small stash of food when he returned to his cupboard, but Petunia's sharp glares had quickly made him discard that notion.

Remembering the incident, Harry decided to check his pockets for any leftover crumbs, just in case.

'Wait, I think I might have something after all, if those rolls crumbled a bit when I tried to hide them…'

Harry never had a chance to find out though, because at that moment he felt a rough shove connect with his shoulder. The next thing he knew, he was sprawled on the metal floor with a satisfied Dudley looming over him.

'Were you actually talking to a bird this time, you freak?'

'What do you care Dudley?' Harry grumbled, climbing back on his feet. He knew that tone well – Dudley was here to cause trouble. 'Shouldn't you be with Aunt and Uncle?' Harry tried to change the topic.

'What do I care? You know that you were not supposed to any freaky stuff here.' Dudley's pudgy face stretched into a wicked grin. 'I wonder what dad would say if he knew about this.'

Harry shifted his feet uncomfortably. If Uncle Vernon thought that he had done something freaky again, like that time his hair grew back in one night after being cut short by Aunt Petunia, he would be severely punished.

'C'mon Dudley! It was just a seagull and I was talking to it to make it come closer, see? It was really tame! And it's not like there is much else to do here anyway.'

'You know what? You're actually right for once, there isn't much to do.' His cousin stepped closer menacingly. 'How about we fix that with a little game of tag?' With that Dudley lunged at Harry, fist aiming for his battered glasses, but Harry wasn't taken by surprise and quickly sidestepped.

As Harry spun around to escape, Dudley grabbed his sleeve and pulled him into a full nelson.

'Gerroff me!'

'I don't think so! This game is only getting – Aaargh!'

Suddenly Harry was released, and he didn't waste time in putting some distance between himself and Dudley. Confused, he glanced over his shoulder to see what had happened, and stopped running in disbelief.

The seagull, which had been scared off by Dudley's attack, had returned with a vengeance and was now swooping around Dudley's head and squawking fiercely. Dudley was screaming bloody murder and waving his chubby arms around in a vain attempt to stop the attack. The sight was so ridiculous that Harry couldn't help but chuckle – he had never seen his bully of a cousin overpowered before. Serves him right!

Dudley, on the other hand, was scared out of his wits. The stupid animal was trying to reach his face with its sharp beak and he was desperate to get it off himself. With a last loud squawk the bird fluttered up and – finally – flew away from him.

Tears were stinging at the corners of Dudley's eyes as he looked at the sky to make sure that the menace had truly left. He would have started crying right then and there if it was not for the tinkling laughter.

His head snapped back to Harry, who had dared to stand there the whole time and laugh at his predicament. The laughter stopped immediately and the scrawny boy gulped. The wimp was looking at him almost guiltily, and Dudley's fury kept growing when he realized that the freak must have somehow set the bird on him!

'You are going to pay for this', Dudley growled, cracking his small knuckles impressively. Harry paled – he had never seen his cousin so angry before and was not up to finding out how bad the thrashing would be if Dudley got hold of him now. He turned tail and fled.

* * *

Vernon and Petunia shook hands with their newest friends, promising to invite them for dinner once everyone had settled back from their trip.

As the men and women parted ways, Vernon leaned in to whisper to Petunia: 'It was a good thing you won the cruise tickets, dear. I believe that Mr. Rodley will soon be placing a very large order at Grunnings.'

Petunia smiled mischievously and kissed her husband on the cheek. 'It was a good thing then that I didn't listen to you when you said that taking part in lotteries was a waste of time. It has been such a lovely trip!' She turned around to look for her son. 'And Dudley has been so well-behaved all this time; I believe he deserves a special treat! Dudley? Dudders, where are you?'

Now concerned, the two parents quickly searched the area but found no trace of their son.

'Oh Vernon, we must find Dudley quickly! What if he has gotten lost on the ship and injured himself or – or if he's been kidnapped and – '

Petunia could not finish that thought out of fear, and the Dursleys quickly ran to find their precious son.

* * *

Harry tripped and fell on the deck for the second time that day. He winced from the new bruise at his elbow. At this rate he would not get away from Dudley! Where were all the other passengers? Should he yell for help and risk getting punished later?

The decision was taken out of his hands when Dudley tackled him with his full, considerable weight and the air was expelled from Harry's lungs.

Dudley rose again and with his splotchy red face set in grim determination, kicked Harry in the side, hard.

The blow sent a flash of pain through Harry's small body and he instinctively curled into a ball. The next moment a kick to the head made him see stars. He desperately wanted to get help now and opened his eyes to see if there were any adults nearby to stop Dudley's onslaught, but instead he saw a foot coming straight at his face. For a split second he froze in terror and then felt his whole body squeeze painfully until everything went black.

* * *

Dudley lost his balance as his foot missed its target. Furiously he stood up again, wiping his now tear-streaked face and catching his breath, but his target had disappeared from where he had been lying only a moment ago.

Dudley blinked. Where had the freak gone? And how had he gotten away so fast?

He looked confusedly around but Harry was nowhere to be seen. He could hear a splash of something hitting the water nearby, but Dudley was too distracted to pay any attention to it.

'DUDLEY!' A familiar shriek sounded.

Soon Dudley was wrapped in loving arms. 'Oh Dudley, we were so worried! Don't ever run off like that again, do you hear me?'

Vernon patted his son on the head. 'You should not be walking on the deck alone, son. Who knows how flimsy those railings are. Listen to your mother and stay with us from now on.'

Dudley, who was used to all the coddling, was about to ask if his parents had seen where Harry ran off to, but he was interrupted by Petunia.

'Now that we're all together again, why don't we go have supper? The menu promised that there would be a special feast on the last day.'

The promise of a feast wiped all thoughts of his cousin away, and together with his parents Dudley waddled down to the dining area.

It was not until much later that the Durleys took notice of Harry's absence. Vernon and Petunia were starting to curse the boy for wandering off when the ship had already docked, when Dudley remembered the strange events that had taken place earlier and decided to tell his parents.

'Disappeared?' Petunia repeated. 'You say that he vanished from where he was lying?'

She exchanged a long, meaningful look with her husband and pulled him aside for a discussion.

When they emerged again, Vernon cleared his throat and grabbed hold of their luggage. 'Come on then Dudley. It seems that the Potter boy has decided to stay here. There's no reason for us to spend time looking for him – let's go back home.'

Petunia was slightly pale as she wondered about the fate of her nephew, but she soon forgot about his mysterious disappearance after returning home to Privet Drive. Finally she could be free from the ghosts of the past and all the unnatural people that her dead sister had brought into her life. The Dursley family settled back into peaceful normalcy and the cupboard under the stairs was eventually filled with Dudley's old toys.

* * *

But what happened to Harry that day? Just as Dudley's foot was about to land in his face, the young wizard's magic awakened to take him out of harm's way. Unfortunately, the uncontrolled burst of magic did not take into account that the ship was moving and Harry reappeared several feet away from Dudley – on the wrong side of the railing.

When the squeezing stopped, Harry had the strangest sensation of falling until he once again smashed against something and was suddenly surrounded by a freezing, all-encompassing cold. He almost yelped in surprise, but the pressure of water against his skin made him pinch his mouth shut.

He knew that he must somehow have fallen into the sea, but the confusion and panic left no room for coherent thoughts. The shower of bubbles disoriented him, water was pushing inside his ears and nose, he could not see, and, worst of all, he did not know which way was up.

And even if he knew, would he be able to swim?

Harry flailed his small limbs helplessly, adrenaline and desperation egging him on. Suddenly he felt something large push against his body, and the next moment he broke the surface and took deep lungfuls of air. He was still freezing to death from his plunge, but at least he had been spared from drowning.

The boy looked down to see what had saved him. It was large and grey.

A whale?

Unbelievable! It actually was a whale! And it had come to save him!

Harry thanked his stars for this welcome turn of events, and tried to hold on tighter to the animal's back. His teeth were chattering, but the small boy hardly noticed from his shock.

The whale moved swiftly in fluid motions to an unknown destination, keeping to the water's surface. Every now and then a wave splashed across its back and Harry found himself newly soaked in cold seawater, but thankfully he was never thrown off from the animal.

He was so focused on trying to stay alive that he never paid attention to the ship that was steadily moving further and further away in the horizon until it disappeared completely.

After a ride that felt like an eternity, but in actuality took only a few minutes, poor Harry had another fright when the whale disappeared from beneath him and he was thrown back in water. But the moment didn't last long, as Harry was suddenly picked up by gentle arms and carried to shore.

Harry blinked and shivered as he was laid between smooth, sun-warmed rocks. He could not see well – his glasses must have fallen off – but he could tell that before him stood a… woman?

'T-thank you for saving me. Please help me,' Harry begged. He was so relieved that someone had found him!

The woman tilted her head, long blonde hair falling in waves across her white dress. She brought a pale hand against Harry's wet locks and carefully stroked his head.

Harry gasped. No-one had ever touched him like that. The gentle fingers stirred something at the edge of his consciousness – memories of another woman who had once held him – and Harry could not help himself. He nearly tackled the woman with his desperate embrace and clung to her like a lifeline. He heaved and sobbed as the shock finally began to wear off and the stress of the day overtook him.

The woman's blue eyes flitted over Harry's small form and she carefully brought one arm around him. With an unpracticed voice that held a strange accent she murmured one word: 'Baby.'


	2. Chapter 2 - Who are you?

**Disclaimer: **J. K. Rowling owns Harry Potter.

* * *

Chapter 2

Who are you?

Eventually the sun dried off Harry's clothes. The woman kept holding him, but stayed quiet. When Harry had finally calmed down, he felt really embarrassed. He had been taught not to cry in front of people, and here he was: bawling against the shoulder of a complete stranger. What a disaster.

'Um…' He wiped his nose in his sleeve. 'I – I'm sorry I cried like that. Thank you again for saving me. Who are you? My name's Harry.'

The woman didn't reply, but instead put her hand on Harry's mouth. Was she telling him to be quiet? Harry frowned. This lady was kind and very beautiful – she looked like a princess – but something about her felt distinctly… off.

Then realization hit him.

'You don't speak English do you?' Harry gasped. There had been some passengers on the cruise liner who had spoken in a strange language – French, Petunia had mentioned. Perhaps this lady was one of them.

If that was the case, how on earth was he going to ask for her help in getting back to his family?

But it seemed that the woman knew some English after all. 'Baby,' she whispered with her strange pronunciation, and started to stroke Harry's hair again.

Harry was mortified. Was she calling him a baby now? Granted, he had acted like one with his earlier blubbering, but damn it, he was a big boy already!

'I'm not a baby; I'm almost six years old.' He put six fingers up for good measure.

'Baby!' she repeated with more certainty than before and wrapped her fingers around his.

Harry felt a bit offended. He dearly hoped that this woman only called him a baby because she did not know what else to call him.

'I'm Harry, HARRY. Harry Potter.'

'Har-ry,' she repeated, tasting the word.

'Yes! My name is Harry!' the boy broke into a grin at his small success.

The strange woman touched his mouth again and pulled her own lips into a hesitant smile. Were all foreigners this odd?

'Harry,' she uttered his name over and over and stood up from the sand. This brought Harry's attention to their surroundings for the first time, and his good mood left him instantly. They were stranded on a desolate island so small that Harry could easily walk all the way around it. There were a few stunted, resilient trees growing on a small patch of soil in the middle, but otherwise it was completely bare.

'Oh no! How are we going to get back home?'

Even a quick look confirmed that there was nothing that could be used as a boat and it was obvious that other people never came to this islet. It was like they were castaways; two shipwrecked pirates who had no food or shelter and could not even speak the same language. What were they supposed to do now?

Harry was going to ask for the woman's opinion – perhaps they could mime or draw what they wanted to say – but he turned around only to find her gone.

Where was she? Suddenly Harry felt afraid again. He called for the woman, whose name he didn't even know, and ran around the island several times, but she had simply vanished. He was alone.

* * *

Some time later Harry lay huddled against a large rock. He had fallen asleep from crying, and the sun was much lower in the sky now. A pale hand nudged him awake.

'Wuh-? Oh! You came back!' Harry was so relieved that he hugged the woman tightly. 'I'm so glad you're here again. Where did you go? Ah, that's right, you can't understand me…'

The woman gave a weak smile and offered her hair to Harry.

'Drink', she commanded.

Harry blinked owlishly. What was she talking about? But then he noticed that her long hair was dripping wet. Had she been swimming?

'Um…' Harry swallowed. His throat was parched, but this was just too weird.

'Drink', the woman repeated. When Harry just kept looking at her like she was mad, she scowled. Then she pushed her hair in Harry's mouth.

The taste was sweet and refreshing, and Harry couldn't help but swallow the water that trickled out. It was not salty at all. He pushed aside his thoughts that this definitely counted as freaky, and greedily drank more. The water flowed easily, and more kept coming.

The woman's eyes shone brightly and she seemed to be very pleased with herself.

Harry thanked her embarrassedly when he was done, and next he was handed a large speckled fish. It slapped him with its tail and tried to flop back into the water.

'Eat.'

'What?-! But it's still alive!' He blurted in horror. He was hungry, yes, but that was just insane!

The woman seemed confused. She urged him again to eat it, but Harry just shook his head vigorously and backed away, determined not to touch the fish.

When talking did not seem to have the desired effect, the woman brought the fish to her lips and bit its head off with a crunch. Harry watched, disgusted, as she ate half of the fish and threw the guts in the sea. Then she offered the other half to Harry again.

Urgh! Harry supposed that he should try to be brave, for her sake. He was going to at least taste it. He bit into the squishy meat, trying to avoid the scales and bones. He nibbled on a small piece of flesh and thought of how the fish had tried to swim away from them only a few minutes ago. He couldn't do it.

The lady frowned and huffed when Harry handed the fish back to her. She probably noticed that Harry had turned a bit green, as she gave up trying to feed him. She finished off the rest of the fish herself and went to wash up in the seawater.

'Harry!' she called.

The boy hesitated, suddenly feeling a little afraid of the water, but then he mentally shook himself. He really needed to wash the sand off, as his skin had begun to itch unpleasantly. Besides, he was not going to drown in shallow water, and the nice lady was watching over him. Harry still did not know her name.

'Who are you? What is your name?' he attempted, speaking very slowly and clearly. At the same time he took his shoes off and stepped into the sea.

The woman did not reply, but instead kept walking a little deeper. When Harry followed her, she bestowed him the brightest smile he had seen on her face yet. Harry thought that she was beautiful.

The water was not so cold here, and Harry followed his rescuer gladly. He was determined to get his point across and learn her name. 'Harry', he pointed at himself with large gestures. Then he moved his finger to point at the woman. He repeated this process several times, washing the sand from his hair and arms between the attempts.

Finally the meaning clicked and the woman's eyes seemed to glow brighter. She took Harry's small hand and pointed it at herself.

'Mother.'

'What? No, I mean your name!' For some reason Harry blushed furiously. She must have misunderstood him. He was going to point at himself and continue his attempts at miming, but strangely, his hand seemed to be stuck to her fingers. Harry blinked; she was not even holding his hand.

The blonde woman whispered 'mother' again in a much raspier voice. Before Harry had time to figure out what was happening, she dived into the water and pulled Harry along with her. Harry had no time to prepare himself and he nearly choked, but soon he broke the surface again only to find himself sitting atop a white horse.

He yelped in astonishment and the horse whinnied, taking off toward the open sea with a startling speed. Harry shrieked, but quickly found that he was unable to get off the horse even if he wanted to; it was as if his legs had been glued to its skin.

* * *

The sun had almost set and the sky was painted in hues of red and purple. The horse kept navigating through the waves, easily keeping above the surface of the water so that Harry could remain mostly dry. It was hard to tell with only a few passing islands as landmarks, but the horse seemed to be swimming incredibly fast. Harry wondered where it was taking him…

During the ride Harry had had some time to think. He was a bright boy and could put two and two together. So many unexplainable things had happened since he fell from the ship (and how that had happened was a mystery to him as well). It seemed impossible, but Harry had a wild theory that he was now riding on some fantastic creature – one that had saved him from drowning.

The question was what exactly was she? Harry had heard of fish-tailed mermaids that sometimes rescued sailors. But the woman he had met earlier had walked on two legs. And Harry was pretty sure that sea horses were not actual horses that lived in the sea.

He had tried to talk to the animal, wondering if she and the woman were one and the same. It would at least explain the how the horse had sprung up just as the woman had disappeared. The mare had flicked its ears at him and grunted, but other than that nothing remarkable had happened.

Still, if Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia could see him now, they would probably faint from shock. They had always told him that there was no such thing as magic. Harry wondered sadly if they had noticed by now that he was missing.

Harry splashed some water on his arms. They were bright red from where his sleeves had left them uncovered, and they were terribly itchy. His face was probably just as red and he was feeling miserable. He was so very tired by now, but could not afford to sleep yet, fearing that he might fall off from the horse if he did. He had even lost his glasses and shoes.

When the pair finally came ashore it was already dark. In all honesty, Harry was not very surprised when the mare seemed to swell beneath him, turning transparent for a brief moment before assuming the form of the familiar woman. He was still amazed, though, and wondered if she could turn into anything she wanted. Harry was already thinking of how to ask her.

The woman picked him up and carried him under a large tree not far from the waterline. Harry tried to fight off his exhaustion, but it was a losing battle. The white lady resumed stroking his hair as if she had never stopped, and Harry fell asleep to the sound of her gentle humming.

His curiosity would have to wait until tomorrow.


End file.
